Ever Deepening

Elevation

A remarkable transformation occurs when we leave the ground in an
airplane. As the ground falls away, details fall away as well. At cruising
altitude, some feel that the world has fallen away: they find freedom.
Others perceive the transformation differently. They look out the window
and see the great pattern wrought on the world by men and nature. They
gain perspective.

Problems aren't resolved in the air. They are settled on the ground. We
need to engage fully with personal and social diversity. But we also need
a broader perspective - a way of looking at challenges that enables us to
prioritize our local problems against the problems faced by the larger
society.

The goal of this section, then, is to provide that perspective. The
goal is to provide terminology that enables us, when bogged down in the
details of personal and social conflict, to elevate and simplify the
debate, and to use that perspective to clearly frame, localize and resolve
conflicts. That is an ambitious program, perhaps, but none-the-less: what
I expect to accomplish is to provide a basis for construction of a
comprehensive moral and ethical philosophy spanning every sphere of life,
from our relationship with ourselves to the international compact of
social justice.

Do I expect to demonstrate that assertion to the satisfaction of each
and every reader? No, I do not. What I hope is that there will be at least
one context in which the ideas make sense, in which the reader finds some
benefit through their application. Through that application, he or she
will find the discipline and confidence to expand the spiritual depth of
their relationships.

For in that success, at whatever scale, a tone
of conduct will be established - a harmony that washes away discordance.
Once that tone is known, it spreads upwards and downwards through all the
scales of perception, until the nature of consciousness itself is opened
to us.

The game is afoot, and it is far more amazing,
glorious, and joyous than we could ever have hoped to expect. The only
thing that impedes our apprehension of it is the energy we invest
maintaining our confusion. It is the confusion of right and wrong, and
good and evil. In fact, the goal is attainable only when we focus narrowly
on managing power - and love is the context in which power is managed most
efficiently.